Advantages of E-Ink Devices: Some Things That I Miss About the Supernote A6x, The Research Life.

All the good things about using the Supernote A6x.

E-ink devices like the Supernote A6x can make note-taking a fun experience. I no longer own the Supernote, but there are some features that I miss about it. After using it daily for several months, I particularly enjoyed its small size, handwritten email feature, and excellent file search.

Perfect Form and Functions For Note-Taking

The Supernote A6x is small enough to make it a great desk companion. It measures in at about 5.4 x 7.8 inches. This is perfect for a work from home setup. The Supernote was small enough for me to comfortably take notes while having my laptop and external monitor on my desk.

Supernote A6x, Lamy AL-star EMR, and Staedtler Norris Digital Jumbo pens (image from author).

The are several templates built into the Supernote, including lined, dot grid, and square grid. It also allows for custom templates to be downloaded to the device. There are over 50 templates specifically made for the Supernote that can be downloaded here.

I would often use the Supernote for taking meeting notes. Preparing to take notes for recurring meetings only took at few taps with the custom templates. I never had to rewrite subject headings that I use during a meeting. My agenda, notes, summary, and action headings could be easily generated (in my own handwriting) whenever I needed to prep or review notes for a meeting. A really cool feature about the Supernote is the ability to hand draw templates. Users can simply take any notes that they want to repeatedly use, take a screenshot, and use that screenshot as their template (as shown below).

My meeting template on the Supernote had five key sections — a top bar for the heading details, a prep section to make a bulleted list of the agenda, a summary of the meeting, notes during the meeting, and actions (or to-dos) discussed during the meeting (image from author).

Time blocking was simple on the Supernote. This is an example of a tight Monday schedule. I normally eat lunch during meetings if they overlap with lunch hours (image from author).

I also used the Supernote outside of work-related tasks. The Supernote helped me to draft posts for this blog. I could use the “star” feature for any page of my notes to remind me to revisit it later (which would show up in a global search function). There were also ways to make a handwritten table of contents, making it a tap away to jump to any section of a notebook. For example, I could have a notebook of article ideas and section each blog idea to revisit later as needed.

Since I felt comfortable taking my Supernote everywhere, I could always have my notes with me. An undervalued feature of the Supernote is that it is tough (as demonstrated in their drop test here). I was always afraid that I might break the Remarkable 2 by dropping it or tightly packing it with other things in my bag. I never felt that way with the Supernote. The Supernote is a well-made device. It is a simple, yet feature-rich, tablet for note-taking.

Excellent File Search

The Supernote is known for frequent updates, differing from many of their e-ink tablet competitors. One of their best updates was the file search improvement. Users can search file files based on type (e.g., Note, PDF, Word Doc, ePub). The file search also allows multiple categories to be selected. The feature that I found most helpful was the ability to search for a starred document and additional categories. For example, I could find all starred notes on the Supernote. Importantly, the search query is persistent, meaning that if I opened a starred document and returned to the search, the same results for the starred note search would still be there.

Handwritten Emails

Users can send and receive emails on the Supernote. They might choose to type emails using an external keyboard or the pop-up keyboard on the Supernote. People can also scribble words and have them converted to text on the fly to send text-based emails. But what’s really fun about the Supernote is that it can send handwritten emails as in-line attachments. A handwritten message has a personal touch. It’s like sending digital letters. This was one of my favorite features.

Where’s my Supernote Now?

My Supernote experience ended in the same way as with my Remarkable. It is now in the hands of some lovely eBay buyer. Although I enjoyed using the Supernote for several months, it didn’t meet my needs for daily use in my work as an academic researcher. There are several disadvantages that ultimately led me to sell both the Remarkable 2 and Supernote A6x and refresh my note-taking system (as will be discussed in the next post). For me, it’s not enough for work-related tools to be fun. They must also be functional, allowing for focused thought and deep work.

Advantages of E-Ink Devices: Some Things That I Miss About the Remarkable 2, The Research Life.

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Originally published at https://www.emilyhokett.blog on September 25, 2022.